Landlords and mobile home park owners are suing Gov. Doug Ducey for blocking evictions of tenants who have not paid their rent.
While tenants have to prove that they are affected by the pandemic to qualify for the protection, challengers of the moratorium say it is unconstitutional. And it is more “an indefinite economic welfare and redistribution program,” than a health, safety measure. Courtney Gilstrap LeVinus is the president of the Arizona Multihousing Association, one of the groups that is suing.
"When the pandemic hit, the state didn't mandate that grocery stores and restaurants give away free food or that gas stations give away free fuel. Yet in this case they're asking rental housing owners to provide free housing going on, potentially by the time the eviction delay ends, up to 221 days," LeVinus says.
LeVinus says the reason they didn’t file earlier is because Ducey promised in March that the government would be providing financial assistance to renters, but less than $2 million has been given so far.
Ducey has stopped constables from enforcing eviction notices, and that is what challengers of the moratorium are seeking to revoke.
